We've just added four new images to the gallery from P.L. Miller. These were shot in the Craggy Mountain area of western North Carolina, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville. (As with all our Gallery images, click on any thumbnail to see a larger image; it's especially recommended on these so that you can see the texture and detail.) Enjoy!

Labels: Visual Arts

30 July, 2006

Get-well wishes go out to author Donald Harington, who is currently recuperating from a broken ankle sustained in an auto accident. He's been working on a new novel (to be titled Enduring), and although this setback will undoubtedly delay it somewhat, we all eagerly await its completion.

In the meantime, I've just run across this piece at Shelf Awareness; it's an insightful and very witty address Mr. Harington gave at Toby Press's 5th Anniversary Banquet last December: "Are Sales Reps Human? Donald Harington Seeks an Answer."

For readers who may not be familiar with Mr. Harington's work, most of his books chronicle the history of the somewhat-fictitious Stay More, Arkansas, and its eccentric residents (affectionately called "Stay Morons"). If you're intrigued by the idea of hypnotically-regressed boy scouts, canine narrators, and alcoholic literature professors with a passion for tomatoes (and that's just scratching the surface), do yourself a favor: make yourself a pitcher of sweet tea, find a shady spot under a tree someplace, and spend the rest of your summer in the pages of Stay More.

Best wishes to Mr. Harington for a speedy recovery!

Labels: Literary Arts

29 July, 2006

Kelly Richey's newest CD Speechless comes out next week (Aug. 8) but you don't have to wait--you can get it now on the Kelly Richey Band website. Three of the new tracks are also available for listening on the site: "One Day We'll Feel the Sun," "Climb the Highest Mountain," and "The Longest Road." I admit I was somewhat skeptical when I heard that the band's first studio album in five years would be entirely instrumental, but on the tracks I've heard so far, the guitar work is so articulate and expressive that you don't miss the lyrics. Have a listen for yourself.

Labels: Music

28 July, 2006

Stuart Savory reports that there will be a memorial service for Michelle Goodrich (a.k.a. Mandarin Meg), who passed last month. If you're on the West Coast and would like to participate, the memorial will be on Friday, 28 July, from 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. (US Pacific Time) in suite 8111 at the San Jose Hyatt. For those who would like to participate but cannot be present, there will be a Freenode IRC chat set up; Frank Paynter has more information on how to join in for that.

Meg's generous assistance was wide-reaching and she is missed by many. Her help with the intricacies of HTML and CSS coding and design was an invaluable resource for those of us who came to the web with more ideas than technical know-how. She made it easy to put ideas into action, assured us that making mistakes was part of the process, and inspired us to keep learning.

Thanks, Meg.

Labels: Visual Arts

27 July, 2006

Bored with those corporate-choreographed 4th-of-July fireworks displays that suck all the spirit out of the word "independence"? Check out Arkanjul's new video clip of fireworks on the streets of Cleveland's Little Italy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZcpvX4dYPw.

Labels: Visual Arts

26 July, 2006

Thunderbolts.info, which has been undergoing some major updates lately, is now fully functional. If you're not familiar with what they're doing over there, this is a site dealing primarily with the theory of the electric universe and showing that gravity only plays a rather small role in the big picture (despite what the the "scientific establishment" still clinging to the Newtonian model would have us believe).

In their monograph Thunderbolts of the Gods, David Talbott and Wallace Thornhill write, "Today, nothing is more important to the future and credibility of science than liberation from the gravity-driven universe of prior theory. A mistaken supposition has not only prevented intelligent and sincere investigators from seeing what would otherwise be obvious, it has bred indifference to possibilities that could have inspired the sciences for decades."

Check out the new stuff at the site, and if you're looking for a good place to start, I recommend Michael Goodspeed's article "Electric Universe: A Cosmology for the 21st Century."

Labels: Think Tank

This is a very exciting time for us here because The Arkanjul now graces our Gallery with his presence. One of our photographers (P.L. Miller) brought his work to our attention some time back, and we've been admirers ever since. Many of his photographs have an ethereal quality which is further enhanced by his digital darkroom tinkering; to view some of his portraits is to feel as though you are getting a glimpse of divinity in an earthly form.

The Arkanjul (aka the Godfather, aka Phil D'Angelo) grew up in Cleveland's "Little Italy" and nearly became a Catholic priest until he saw Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot. He went to college relatively late in life and was deemed a "renaissance man" by the humanities department (as well as by most people who've had the pleasure of meeting him).

"My influences are as diverse as Federico Fellini, Todd Rundgren, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vincent Van Gogh, Dali, Quan Yin, Buddha, and most of all, a simple carpenter from Nazareth," he says. He sometimes works with fractals in a number of different programs, and explains, "I usually sit for hours listening to Tangerine Dream and play with the math, over and over until the images 'sing' to me.

"As for my photo images," he continues, "Guys from the old neighborhood were gleaning my files for years, without my knowledge. My studio was a common meeting place for 70's-style get-togethers and we would often go out to the rooftops of Cleveland’s tallest office buildings to drink some homemade wine. It was during these get-togethers that 'the boys' would keep me occupied while sneaking into my office and stealing negatives! Years later one them says, 'We figured if anyone from the neighborhood would ever make it, it would be you! And we hoped you'd cut your ear off like Van Gogh or commit suicide and these negatives would be worth money! You let everybody in the neighborhood down by settling down and having a family.'

"My angels are NOT just the statues but also the women and all the various people and places I photograph. Fellini said, 'He who looks with innocent eyes, all is divine!' I am now an old knight, returned from the quest, searched for the grail, fought the devil, kissed an angel and looked for beauty in the modern world. My art/photography (is there a difference?) is a reflection of that search."

We agree. Now go and have a look. (Don't forget, you can click on any thumbnail image in our galleries to see the larger version.)

www.gatewoodjournal.org/galleryarkanjul01.html

Labels: Visual Arts

20 July, 2006

Our News & Updates blog has migrated from the front page to its own spot, this time powered by Blogger. If you think you see something else here, have a nap or a cup of coffee and check again later. Better yet, bookmark this page so you always know what our latest updates are. Before the week is out, we'll be adding a new section to the gallery. Stay tuned.

Labels: Site Updates

19 July, 2006

The Thunderbolts.info site has been undergoing some major updates of late. A few areas are still under construction, but there's plenty of new info to see while they complete the rest. For instance, you can now watch video clips from the Thunderbolts DVD. An upcoming feature will allow you to download "The Electric Comet," a recent presentation by Australian physicist Wallace Thornhill and mythologist David Talbott at the 33rd International Conference on Plasma Sciences. Check out the revamped site and put some electricity into your universe.

Labels: Think Tank

07 July, 2006

"Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression."

--Thomas Jefferson's Inaugural Address, 1801


"We have not done too well with that concept... and the proof of our failure is the wreckage of Jefferson's dream that haunts us on every side, from coast to coast, on the TV news and a thousand daily newspapers."

--Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Better Than Sex


"Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity...."

--W.B. Yeats, "The Second Coming"

Labels: Subversive Ideas

04 July, 2006